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Ironclad Performance Wear Corporation, best known for its performance work gloves, announced that the company and its subsidiary filed voluntary petitions under chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California on Friday, according to a press release. The company’s chapter 11 cases are expected to be jointly administered. During the duration of the chapter 11 cases, Ironclad will continue in the possession of its assets and will continue to operate and manage its business in the ordinary course, including continuing the development, manufacture and sale of its high-performance task-specific work gloves, pending the sale of substantially all of its assets pursuant to a sale under Sect. 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. The company intends to request court approval of a series of customary motions related to the payment of various expenses to continue operations. 

Vitamin World, a seller of vitamins and nutritional supplements, plans to file for chapter 11 protection, hoping to end costly lease agreements for some of its stores, the company’s chief executive officer said yesterday, Reuters reported. Long Island, New York-based Vitamin World plans to file bankruptcy in order to exit real estate leases that were negotiated by its previous owners, the said CEO Michael Madden. The vitamin seller, which has about 345 stores, plans to file bankruptcy as soon as this month. “This action will empower us to move forward as a stronger organization that can and will continue to service our millions of loyal customers with premium offerings via retail and online channels,” Madden said. Private equity firm Centre Lane Partners acquired Vitamin World from global vitamin maker NBTY Inc last year for about $25 million. NBTY sold the business because it had shifted to investing in its core brands, such as Nature’s Bounty and Sundown Naturals, found in major retailers across the U.S.

Perfumania Holdings Inc., a U.S. retailer with exclusive distribution rights to several Trump-branded colognes, said yesterday that it had initiated a recapitalization and was filing voluntary petitions for chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported. The company said in a statement that it planned to reduce its retail store count, increase investments in its e-commerce business and become a privately held company. The company also said that it would “continue to operate in the normal course of business.” Perfumania’s wholesale businesses, Parlux, holds the exclusive distribution rights to U.S. President Donald Trump’s fragrances Empire and Success, as well as daughter Ivanka Trump’s fragrance. The company’s portfolio also includes fragrances from celebrities such as Rihanna, Jessica Simpson and Jay Z. Perfumania said its Parlux and Five Star Fragrance subsidiaries were not included in the chapter 11 filings. Read more.

What does the future hold for retail bankruptcies? Be sure to attend ABI’s Bankruptcy 2017: Views from the Bench on October 17. 

The agency that owns the Westin hotel in Lombard, Ill., is restructuring its debt through a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that will help it pay off $246.6 million owed to bond holders while continuing operations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today. The bankruptcy filing comes with a $3 million commitment from the village of Lombard to pay back the portion of hotel bonds used to make water main improvements around the hotel site at 70 Yorktown Center before the 500-room facility opened in August 2007. Village officials say that making the payment will help stave off future downgrades to the village’s credit rating, which already has suffered several hits in the six years since Westin ownership began asking for financial help.

After a six-month saga involving attempts to pay off its debts, Baltimore Clayworks’ board of directors decided yesterday to close the 37-year-old nonprofit ceramic arts center for good, the Baltimore Sun reported today. “We’ve had to make the difficult decision to file Chapter 7 [bankruptcy] and shut down operations,” interim executive director Devon Powell said. Facing $1 million-plus debt, the Clayworks board of directors announced last winter a plan to relocate and sell the organization’s studio and gallery buildings in Mount Washington. Last week saw the collapse of a deal to sell Clayworks’ facilities for $3.7 million to Itineris, a Baltimore nonprofit that provides job training for adults with autism.

One of the nation's biggest carpet makers filed for bankruptcy today in federal bankruptcy court in Rome, Ga., the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported today. Beaulieu Group LLC said that it will reorganize its finances under chapter 11 protection after suffering losses from its traditional carpet business. The company said that its existing lenders, which Beaulieu said are owed between $50 million and $100 million, have agreed to continue to support the company by providing debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. Such debt will be combined with cash from operations to ensure the company continues operations while it restructures its debt and finances.

Oyo Sportstoys, a maker of sports mini-figures and toys, has filed for chapter 11 protection, according to court documents, the Worcester Business Journal reported yesterday. The company has between $1 million and $10 million in estimated assets, and about the same in estimated liabilities, according to a Tuesday filing signed by company President Thomas Skripps. The six-year-old company raised $14 million in its first five years, according to the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. In 2015, it received a 10-year, tax-increment-financing agreement from the city to spend $8 million improving its facility in exchange for 195 new jobs.

Morehead Memorial Hospital, a 108-bed nonprofit hospital in Eden, N.C., filed for chapter 11 protection on Monday, Becker's Hospital Review reported yesterday. Documents filed in the case, which is pending in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, said that the hospital listed its assets as between $10 million and $50 million and its liabilities as in the same range. Morehead Memorial said that it has more than 5,000 creditors. The hospital's largest unsecured creditor is San Diego-based medical device company Nuvasive, which has a $641,629 claim. The hospital said it will continue to operate as normal during the bankruptcy process. Read more.

For more on hospital and health care insolvencies, be sure to pick up a copy of the ABI Health Care Insolvency Manual, Third Edition from the ABI Bookstore.